# The Golden Ratio in Logo Design - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/the-golden-ratio-in-logo-design/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Graphic Design · Quick win · Rated 6 /10 # The Golden Ratio in Logo Design Updated September 2026 Lindsay Marsh · Over 500,000 Design Students & Counting! Beginner · 38 min A single 38-minute technique demo that teaches one specific construction method, not a broad logo design education. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fthe-golden-ratio-in-logo-design%2F1367745132) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## What the course actually covers The Golden Ratio in Logo Design is a narrow, technique-focused class built around one construction method rather than a survey of logo design principles. It opens with a short history segment citing the Parthenon, Salvador Dali's Sacrament of the Last Supper, and the chambered nautilus shell as examples of the golden ratio's supposed presence in nature and classical design. This framing is brief and largely anecdotal, offered as motivation rather than rigorous grounding, and viewers looking for a deeper design-theory discussion will find it thin. The real content starts once the instructor opens Illustrator and builds a rectangle using a 1 to 0.61 ratio, then repeatedly copies, rotates, and nests that rectangle into itself to generate the familiar golden spiral. From there she draws a circle inside each nested square, aligns the circles by their centers, and ends up with a cascading set of proportionally related circles. That circle set, not the spiral itself, becomes the actual working tool for the rest of the course. She points to the National Geographic logo and the Pepsi logo as existing examples of circles used this way, which helps make the abstract geometry feel applied rather than purely academic. ## The two projects The first hands-on project applies the circle grid to a rough bird outline. The method is essentially subtractive sculpting: overlay the fixed-size circles onto a loose sketch, then use Illustrator's shape builder tool to add or cut sections of the drawing so its curves land on the circle boundaries. The instructor is candid that the bird was a more complex shape than she should have picked for a first demonstration, and the segment does run long as she works through trial and error on the wing and tail curves. The second and third lessons repeat the same process on a letterform, an outlined M, refining the technique with more precision. This section is where the course is strongest. The pairing of the curvature tool with careful circle alignment produces genuinely clean, deliberate curves, and the closing personal-brand mark built from the M and a tracked-out wordmark shows the technique's payoff clearly. ## Assessment The course delivers exactly what its title promises: a specific, replicable method for using the golden ratio as a curve-fitting guide in Illustrator, not a general logo design curriculum. Beginners will need existing comfort with Illustrator's shape builder, curvature, and direct selection tools, since none of those are explained from scratch. The pacing is uneven, heavy on real-time trial and error rather than edited-down demonstration, which makes the middle stretch feel slower than the actual technique warrants. Where it succeeds is in demystifying those circle-array golden ratio graphics that show up constantly in design inspiration posts but rarely come with an explanation of how they were built or how to use them. Anyone who has wondered how a designer landed on that specific curve now has a concrete, repeatable answer. Just don't expect coverage of typography selection, brand strategy, or client work here. This is a single technique, taught well once it gets going, wrapped in a short and disproportionately padded warm-up. The standout Building the circle-based golden ratio grid from the spiral and then using it as a subtractive cutting guide with the shape builder tool is the one technique worth the course's whole runtime. ## What you will learn - · How to construct a golden ratio rectangle and spiral in Adobe Illustrator using a 1:0.61 proportion - · How to convert the rectangle spiral into a set of proportionally related circles for logo construction - · How to conform a hand-drawn symbol (a bird outline) to those circles using the shape builder tool to carve curves - · How to apply the same circle set to a letterform (an outlined M) to reshape its curves according to the ratio - · How to use the curvature tool and direct selection tool to round corners precisely against a circle guide - · Some design history context for the golden ratio's claimed presence in the Parthenon, Dali's work, and the Nautilus shell Best for: A beginner-to-intermediate Illustrator user who already sketches logo concepts and wants a repeatable geometric method for refining curves. Skip it if: Anyone without basic Illustrator fluency, or anyone hoping for a broader logo design or branding strategy course beyond this one geometric technique. Clarity of Instruction Helpful Examples Engaging Teacher Audio & Video Quality [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fthe-golden-ratio-in-logo-design%2F1367745132)